2/22/10

We had a sensational walk. We observed 28 species, good for a tie for the record for week 8. 2010 is humming right along continuing the torrid pace we had at the end of 2009.

See the plots at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html and http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm

It's hard to pick out a highlight but having 24 species when we left Tournament Park may have been some sort of record. The best I ever remember was 19, but I don't keep records for intermediate points of the walk. We saw 3 species of hawk and a good assortment of birds. We did not see Rock Dove or Scrub Jay, else we would have been pushing the all-time record of 31.

The date: 2/22/10
The week number: 8
The walk number: 1027
The weather: 58 F, partly cloudy

The walkers: Alan Cummings, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Mark Scheel, Darren Dowell, Beth Moore, John Beckett, Ashish Mahabal

The birds (28):

Northern Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Raven
Mallard
Lesser Goldfinch
Bushtit
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Black Phoebe
Cedar Waxwing
Cooper's Hawk
Red-crowned Parrott
Swallow, sp.
Say's Phoebe
Bewick's Wren
Hermit Thrush
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Orange-crowned Warbler
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Robin
Red-shouldered Hawk
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
2/28/10
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

2/16/10

We had a good walk, but not a spectacular one. We observed 23 species, 3 above the median and 3 below the maximum, good for a walk score of 0.98253.

See the plots at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html and http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm

The highlight bird was a Hutton's Vireo, first spotted by Viceca. We got lots of good views and agreed it was a Hutton's. Nice bird, almost a look-alike for a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Otherwise, pretty standard fare. The Mallards are still on the pond.

The date: 2/16/10
The week number: 7
The walk number: 1026
The weather: 78 F, partly cloudy

The walkers: Alan Cummings, John Beckett, Beth Moore, Ashish Mahabal, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Darren Dowell, Chris Martin

The birds (23):

Northern Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Crow
Bushtit
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Lesser Goldfinch
Hutton's Vireo
Red-tailed Hawk
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Black Phoebe
Say's Phoebe
Bewick's Wren
Warbler, sp. (not Yellow-rumped)
Cedar Waxwing
Robin
White-throated Swift
American Goldfinch
Raven
Mallard

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
2/19/10
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

2/8/10

We had a spectacular walk. We observed 27 species, 2 above the record for a week 6 and 4 short of the all-time record for any week.

See the plots at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html and http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm

It was easy to imagine breaking the all-time record. We didn't see Mockingbird, Scrub Jay, Band-tailed Pigeon, Robin, Starling, White-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Townsend's Warbler, or a gull. Just give us five out of those possibles and we would have gotten it. Last week we did get five of those, but alas not this week. But I'm not complaining! Lots of birds. I'm pretty sure it was the most California Towhees we've ever seen in one walk. Weather was nice too.

This may be the year to break the record of 31. That number was seen in week 12. We are only at week 6 and we are nipping at it already.

The date: 2/8/10
The week number: 6
The walk number: 1025
The weather: 58 F, partly cloudy

The walkers: Alan Cummings, Kent Potter, Barbara Ellis, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Mark Scheel, Ashish Mahabal, Beth Moore

The birds (27):

Rock Pigeon
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn woodpecker
Crow
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Red-tailed Hawk
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hawk, sp. (Sharp-shinned or Cooper's)
American Goldfinch
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Swallow, sp.
Say's Phoebe
Lesser Goldfinch
Black Phoebe
California Towhee
Bewick's Wren
Orange-crowned Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Bushtit
Cedar Waxwing
Raven
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Mallard

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
2/8/10
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

2/1/10

We had a good walk. It started slowly and Kent thought we might be headed for a record in the wrong direction. But things picked up and we wound up just two species short of a record high for week 5. We observed 24 species.

See the plots at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html and http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm

The Snowy Egret that was on the Baxter pond late last week was not there, a big disappointment. But a pair of Mallards was on the middle tier of Throop ponds. So that was good. Excellent, actually.

We missed some former easy ones, the Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, and Acorn Woodpecker. If those had cooperated, we would be discussing the record we set for week 5. Oh well.

The date: 2/1/10
The week number: 5
The walk number: 1024
The weather: 62 F, partly cloudy

The walkers: Alan Cummings, Kent Potter, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, John Beckett, Mark Scheel, Nathan Dalleska

The birds (24):

Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Crow
Black Phoebe
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Cedar Waxwing
Red-tailed Hawk
Say's Phoebe
Robin
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Orange-crowned Warbler
Raven
California Towhee
Bushtit
Lesser Goldfinch
Wren, sp.
Band-tailed Pigeon
California Gull
Mallard

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
2/3/10
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu